Daniel McGroarty: Google's lost island helps bring us back to earth

5:48 PM,
Dec. 5, 2012

Written by

Daniel McGroarty
McClatchy-Tribune

How many of us have marveled at the images on Google Earth, data-diving from geo-sync orbit to our driveway with the simple toggle of an arrow key? And how many of us took Google Earth to be a compendium of full-fidelity images from space - an image, available on any cell phone, that ancient explorers could only dream of: the world as it is.

Now it seems the images offered by Google Earth are not always what they seem. Take the case of Sandy Island in the Coral Sea, plainly visible - until recently - on Google Earth. That changed, when some sea-faring fact-checkers decided to sail over for a look, only to ...